Hey, people, these are ALL part of the extensive collection at the Steamtown National Historic Park in Scranton, PA. FAR from abandoned, all are awaiting conservation, but some may not make it due to budgetary considerations. There is an ACTIVE restoration program. Volunteers needed!
Be better if recent management didnt chase all the good volunteers away. The park is slowly becoming static and left to rot, not because of lack of willing volunteers, but because of management squashing restoration projects and letting the running equipment go to hell.
I know that time marches on but to see these still beautiful steam locomotives just sitting and rusting away is deeply saddening. I was young enough to see these babies in their heydays. I am always thankful for that.
Beautiful pics at the end, and great shots of these old trains. Sad to see them in such a state of decay, but good that you captured them for posterity. Thank you!
This is so sad. I visited Steamtown when they were in Bellows Vermont 30 years ago. Most of these sad looking locomotives and cars were in nice condition then. They have been left to rot.
Used to ride these Erie Lackawanna cars as a kid from Chatham NJ into Hoboken in the 1950's, when it was the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (before the merger with Erie). They were woven cane seats as I remember and on the return trip each seat back was flipped from one side of the seat to the other by the conductor. I think the cane seat construction was intended to provide cooler seating in the sweltering eastern summers. I don't know if this was a common design with passenger coaches of this era or not, but as a kid I was impressed by all the racket it made when the conductor flipped all the seats while walking through each coach.
Think of the conversations that took place on the train at 6:50 with the seats facing each other. Those old steamer trains taking men off to war...taking people to each other and away from each other...and no cell phones to check someone's arrival. Super cool video!
my pass grandpa used to run and operate these types of steam trains in his country as well as the electric locomotives.. he used to tell me stories of his trips through his country in Cuba and here in the states.
Wow what a neat video. It's nice to see that these old trains are still out there, even though they are not in great shape. So many of these old beauties were scrapped for metal during WWII, we lost alot of our railroad heritage during that era. Thanks for sharing this.
all these locomotives & rail cars are at Steamtown. they will eventually be restored to running or a static display. it's all volunteers, so it takes a long time to restore a steam locomotive
+Rebel9668 yeah but 611 was never in rough condition it was running about a decade ago, never left outside to decay and im pretty sure wasnt missing any parts
You always bring us such great footage of our history that makes the mind spin in all directions with question of the then. Beautiful, beautiful video and thanks for the share.
Steam Town National Historic Site in Scranton, PA I was there back in 2010 cool place! This stuff is not abandoned so to say it's slowly being restored a little bit at time.
What nice collection of trains / cars. Looks like several steam engines are in restorable condition. Again wish I was extremely wealthy and could save them.
There were a lot of trains running around 50 years ago, and not all were scrapped, so some end up in 'museums' like this one. They always have a lot more equipment than there is money available for restoration - or even keep out of the weather. The Steamtown collection is typical - it has a premier collection of historic equipment under cover (in the roundhouse) and in good shape, another group outside but inside the yard that is looked after, and a lot full of old locos and equipment that are significant but nobody can afford to restore them or even give them a coat of paint. (BTW, the Steamtown collection came from Vermont, where Nelson Blount started collecting. Hence the Vermont coaches.)
I noticed Erie Lackawanna on the sides of some passenger cars that brought back memories of my parents and family using these steam trains and my second grade field trip in 1962 on an Erie Lackawanna Steam Train ride using those old passenger cars. At that time steam train rides were still around and serviced a few local routes AKA North and Central New Jersey. As I grew older we stopped seeing trains travel thru the town of Pequannock, New Jersey and later towards the 1970's all local shops and stores build close to the train route closed that once supplied them.
good video,, that Rutland car looks like it came from VT,,there is a few around here from the Rutland RR now the central VT, good to see that they are saved from the scrap man at least,
I wouldn't say "Abandoned" to any degree, it's of this more like..."Ignored/Forgotten" Both CNR 47 & CNR 3377 and rest of the railroad rolling stock seen are owned by SteamTown NHS. So technically really it's owned by the U.S. Government/Department of the Interior. Many railroad museums like SteamTown have a lot of rolling stock and much of the surplus collection get's very overlooked. Currently, on SteamTown's restoration schedule they are working on completing Baldwin Locomotive Works 26. The next locomotive in line should be Boston & Maine 3713. After that Canadian Pacific 2317 or Canadian National 3254. CNR 3377 has mostly been a parts donor for 3254. CNR 47 hasn't ran since the museum was back in Vermont. By comparison fixing freight/passenger cars is a lot more easy than restoring a steam locomotive. Also, they are working on the U.S. Federal Government Budget.
it's disheartening to see such wonderful examples of 'steam age' in such disrepair i also realize the volunteers have only so much time and money to preserve the best examples
I'd wager that most if not all those steam engines are still operational, those things were made to last literally forever, a little tinkering and lubing up stuff, add some water and a little fire in the box and take her for a spin,lol! Great video, was fun to see all that history.Thx!
+David Smith I agree totally, its all metal on metal, so all it needs is to be greased. I'm sure with a little lube and some help with another engine to get the parts moving freely wouldn't take all that much $, just time. since they are old locomotives showing a little rust is just to say "hey!... I'll be around when your great great grandsons are born!"
This is so awesome what great video you did, took me back in time, love that feeling to. The still's blew me away. Thank you for letting us see these amazing things. God bless you!
The coaches (safety coaches actually) look quite impressive. Early railway coaches had a wooden superstructure on top of a steel chassis and in a bad smash the bogies of adjacent coaches would rise up and shatter the woodwork and any passengers that were inside! Modern coaches are like a metal tube which will not telescope but in Europe it took ages before such innovations were introduced. I have actually travelled hundreds of miles in coaches with wooden superstructures but fortunately there were no accidents. The storage yard looks great and it must have a good climate as there is not much corrosion.
Abandoned Steve no thank you. You are preserving history and in many a cases looking at this and finding history where most people never think to look. Like that video alloy the old bank. Just awesome
Have loved steam powered locomotives since I was on my first train ride from Greenport, NI, NY, to GCS in Manhattan Then really got into it when I had my Lionels. One a heavy 2-4-2. This, while I love old buildings, is one of my favorites of yours Steve. Thanks. BTW, when I visited the UK, I had to see the national Train Museum in York, but just missed the "Flying Scotsman" which was moved elsewhere for restoration. Worth the trip.
Great video! 1:21 (and later): that seems to be a gorgeous 2-8-2 Mikado with the lead and trailing trucks removed. Still a lot of parts are there. 7:12 looks like a 2-8-0 Consolidation (in this case small boiler, lead truck with spoked wheels and heavy duty valve- and running gear). Love the boiler: still covered in shiny sheet metal (perhaps as part of a late restoring project?). These steamers - which still haven't been stripped off - as sadly is the case in some "steam graveyards" here in Europe - should be carefully restored immediately. Same with the coaches and snow removal equipment. The wooden passenger cars which are rotten beyond repair can always be used as 1:1 templates to build accurate replica (together with plans if available) from scratch (that's how it is done very often). Beautiful locos and rolling stock! Definitely belong into expert hands to be rebuilt to its former glory. It's being done painstakingly by rail fans in the UK and all over continental Europe as well as in the US and Canada.
When I was very young my grandparents lived in Gary, Indiana, with freight yard or switching yard (?) behind the house. I didn't know we were in an undesirable location: I thought it was great! Little boys and trains: now there's a combination! I recall riding, though not well, Monon trains from Bloomington, Indiana, to Gary and back; also riding the South Shore interurban trains between Gary and Chicago and the Burlington commuter trains to and from Naperville, Illinois, and Chicago. My grandfather "rode the rails" during the Depression looking for work and even years later when things were better he said that when he heard a train whistle he wanted to get aboard.
I did a similar exploration at the old abandoned steam locomotive park at Snoqualmie Falls Washington state. Being an electrician I was very interested of what powered the electrical loads for the passenger cars. I knew the locomotive turbine generator was not capable of providing all the passenger cars with electricity. What I found out was that each car each had its own separate generator driven by belts wound around each cars axel. Also under the cars chassis were huge battery banks for electrical storage. Also on the cars load center were inverters to provide AC power. Another interesting point I noticed were the toilets. Sewage was not stored in any tank. Instead pee and poop just came out of the bottom of a toilet and dumped on to the tracks through a copper chute!
+heffo and juff LOL, yea. You can actually find signs on eBay or at antique places that were posted in the restrooms and they read something like "do not flush while in or going through station". I can imagine someone flushing a healthy one while and express train went through a station at like 50+MPH. whOOOOSH and everyone on the platform is suddenly having a bad day.
+heffo and juff Also, if you looked in the area of the diaphragms you would see where you could jumper power from one car to another. The problem came in as power use increased in each car. First ones used 32VDC as the standard. Then came 64VDC cars. Finally 110VDC cars. It was possible to feed power to a car that had 32VDC system form another car that had 32VDC circuits. And you could feed the 32VDC thru the 64VDC and 110VDC cars as long as you did not hook the trainline power to the 64VDC or 110VDC panels. Same applied to the 64VDC to 64VDC and 110VDC to 110VDC. 64VDC was the standard voltage for Diesel locos so they could also power a car or two as needed. Some generators under the cars had the ability to supply DC while sitting in a station by way of a 220VAC cable. Those belt drive and line shaft units had clutches to allow them to power up when sitting still. Early DC generators ran off flat belts. Later ones ran V-belts. Even later ones had V-belts, lineshafts, and clutches. Up to 6 V-belts were used on a car that had a 300 Amp, 32VDC Genamotor. The Communication Car for the President of the US had Diesel AC generators inside that allowed them to power up the 32VDC Genamotor under the car while stationary or moving at low speed. As speed went up, the power dropped out and the clutch kicked in to pick up power from the rotation of the wheels and axle. The AC power was also trainlined to the next car which was the Crew Car for the Comm Car. And also all the way to the rear of the train for the Presidential Pullman, Ferdinand Magellan. The Comm Car and Crew Car could also supply 32VDC to the Magellan thru the regular vestibule connectors. The Magellan ran ice A/C so needed power when sitting for long periods along with 400lb blocks of ice.
This is absolutely heartbreaking to see all these engines and coach cars left outside to rot. It they had a classic Challenger locomotive out there as well. I figured that engine above all others would've been restored as that train pretty much conquered the western US.
Why don't they talk to bluebell? Bluebell Railway could probably preserve them. It would probably cost a lot to ship them overseas, but bluebell might take a few of these engines.
The Robby King First off,You can't run American engines on british rails,They'd break under that weight. Second of all,It would cost Millions to ship these. Plus,Bluebell wouldn't accept them. This is reality,Unfortunatly.
I build rail cars car a living, and most of the time it's held together with welds, but we also use something called a Huck gun, basically it's a rivet type thing, but a one man job. Anyways, when I see these old cars and locos I see all those real rivets it makes me wonder how long it must have taken to build these things! I've worked with actual rivets before and it takes sometime to lay out just a few.
Very interesting. Last year, my son told me of an old early 1900s snow plow in a CP Rail yard that they had sitting off on an overgrown siding that was accessible but had some vandalism. By the time I got there, it was gone. I think they finally moved it for scrap. Too bad. I was desperate to get inside and film it for some variety even though I'm not a big train person. Great job on the video as always, Steve.
This is actually a historic site called Steamtown, and it's owned by the US government. They have a lot of items in their collection, so many items get overlooked or forgotten. Their Union Pacific Big Boy #4012 and their Nickel Plate Berkshire #759 are in much better shape than the engines you found. Steamtown has a locomotive of their own that has now been restored to operation, Baldwin #26, and they're working on restoring Boston and Maine #3713.
I would love to see all of these old trains preserved but it would cost millions. It just doesn't seem right to leave them out in the weather to rust up.
Here in my town we have a historic train sitting in a city park rusting to hell. It's too bad. I've visited train museums in Sacramento and in York UK and they are spectacular. And many of their old trains still run.
I think alot of the problem is marketing. If you notice the building they have it is a little expensively built. No need for a 250 grand skylight really. Anyone who wants to see history nowadays seems to have to pass into a piece of artwork first. Examples here in Canada are the Museum of Civilization and the National War Museum. All that extra does little if nothing to get people to go to see what they want to see. I will not go to see impresionist paintings if they are in a gold palace or if they are warehouse for instance, nor will it matter to see something i like in a gold palace if it means i will be looking at more ruinous wrecks than museum quality exhibits. Money ill spent to get people to go to see what they want to see in the first place, just now the new building has a bigger entrance fee to cover the "costs" of storing the exhibits they have. How many folks wouldn't go to a walmart because thier building is not an artpiece. Wouldn't it have been nice if the largest car museum were in the old packard factory even, instead of some irelevant artwork facade with steamline era designs mixed with 50's era design on the south face and a future looking north face ? There are losts of art peices here in Ottawa folks cannot see for the space concerns, yet the money is going to a new artwork facade. Doesn't make cents it wastes them and costs what people want to actualy see. People like Abandonded Steve deserve credit for showing history beforre it disolves. He realy picks up the slack of what museums are letting slip away to decay and destruction in the odd world of preservation.
Steve, this is good stuff. I'd watch a 30 second commercial. I like how slowly you move the camera. I'm so impatient with the camera when I'm places. I get excited just being there. Sometimes, I wish I didn't have to be bothered with the youtube channel and just enjoy the moment. These trains and box cars are amazing. Is this in the same location as the other train cars that were back in the woods?
***** Thanks! You shouldnt be seeing a 30sec commercial. that disabled. Anyway check out my older videos. I flung that camera around at like 100mph. It was bad. Probably is your eyes are taking the movement better than what the camera is capturing. That is why you need to take it slow. This is not in the same spot as the the graveyard
The answer to most peoples comments are very simple: These things rust away and rot because most of YOU never donated money or time to rebuild them. Simple as that.
wow.. what a day to go hunting..this was my first time on a abandoned train.. wow.. that was crazy.. specaill the train @3:40.. what kind of train was that? anyway awesome old trains.. i bet the old ghosts are still seated on those old seats and waiting go somewhere.. (too much imagination) great video.. thanks for getting soaked and getting the video to us..
Hi Steve once again a stunning vid, with amazing clarity. The work of a pro. I must admit that I am biased to trains and trams. Also how is your German Shepard dog going?
I can't help but think of these steamers in an apocalyptic sense. It's sad that these beautiful machines have to sit thar for the rest of their lives and decay and rust.
That Jubilee looks terrible (the 4-4-4 towards the end)...it's such a unique wheel configuration, and streamlined, they really need to try to do something about it.
idk where they are but i hope that those trains and coaches get new life since i am a huge steam train rail fan i also noticed the condition of the steam locomotives and i must say they are in pretty good condition and could almost be restored in couple of months
Abandoned Steve Thanks guys. With seeing Philadelphia here and there on your rail videos I thought across to the famous GG1 electric. Am English, now in USA and earlier would have thought the area only to have steam/diesel. Relics and your camera make such history intriguing :)
It makes me cry because I have loved steam trains my whole life and I feel so emotional when I see trains that are scrapped/abandoned
Hey, people, these are ALL part of the extensive collection at the Steamtown National Historic Park in Scranton, PA. FAR from abandoned, all are awaiting conservation, but some may not make it due to budgetary considerations. There is an ACTIVE restoration program. Volunteers needed!
Be better if recent management didnt chase all the good volunteers away. The park is slowly becoming static and left to rot, not because of lack of willing volunteers, but because of management squashing restoration projects and letting the running equipment go to hell.
This is Steamtown National Historic Site a museum none of this equipment is abandoned although it may look it due to poor funding.
Did anyone notice the front trucks are missing on that locomotive at 1:31
It was used as a parts engine for her sister engine 3254.
Ahhhh, Steamtown....The best Canadian steam excursion museum in the U.S.
We should move them back here, give us our stuff back >:(
This statement is so far from the truth
I know that time marches on but to see these still beautiful steam locomotives just sitting and rusting away is deeply saddening. I was young enough to see these babies in their heydays. I am always thankful for that.
Beautiful pics at the end, and great shots of these old trains. Sad to see them in such a state of decay, but good that you captured them for posterity. Thank you!
justmeted1969 Thanks for watching
This is so sad. I visited Steamtown when they were in Bellows Vermont 30 years ago. Most of these sad looking locomotives and cars were in nice condition then. They have been left to rot.
Used to ride these Erie Lackawanna cars as a kid from Chatham NJ into Hoboken in the 1950's, when it was the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (before the merger with Erie). They were woven cane seats as I remember and on the return trip each seat back was flipped from one side of the seat to the other by the conductor. I think the cane seat construction was intended to provide cooler seating in the sweltering eastern summers. I don't know if this was a common design with passenger coaches of this era or not, but as a kid I was impressed by all the racket it made when the conductor flipped all the seats while walking through each coach.
Think of the conversations that took place on the train at 6:50 with the seats facing each other. Those old steamer trains taking men off to war...taking people to each other and away from each other...and no cell phones to check someone's arrival. Super cool video!
Carolyn Evers always makes your mind wonder! Thanks for watching
Would the Old Locomotives and Passenger cars be restored.
They very well could be. A lot of times, these museums will leave equipment outside until its ready.
my pass grandpa used to run and operate these types of steam trains in his country as well as the electric locomotives.. he used to tell me stories of his trips through his country in Cuba and here in the states.
So cool .... so much history there .....really really cool
Thanks Steve for fenturing out in the crappy weather and sharing..Happy New Year and Stay Safe..
Wow what a neat video. It's nice to see that these old trains are still out there, even though they are not in great shape. So many of these old beauties were scrapped for metal during WWII, we lost alot of our railroad heritage during that era. Thanks for sharing this.
Daydreams of a Vintage Girl Yes, sadly a lot of trains like this still sit outside to rot away. Thanks for watching
Excellent video
Thank You!
As a steam buff and builder of miniature steam locomotives this made me cry
William Rouse It will make all train fans cry
BEAUTIFUL still photos!!!
John C Thank You John!
Nice job! The rain only adds to the somber mood of the video.
all these locomotives & rail cars are at Steamtown. they will eventually be restored to running or a static display. it's all volunteers, so it takes a long time to restore a steam locomotive
+thunderbolt427 Unless of course you're Norfolk Southern and you decide to restore a J class in about a year.
+Rebel9668 yeah but 611 was never in rough condition it was running about a decade ago, never left outside to decay and im pretty sure wasnt missing any parts
+andrew donohue Hasn't 611 actually been overhauled twice?
I'm actually going on an excursion on the 611 in a few months.I had to buy tickets in advance so I'd get a seat.
AWESOME, love this old History, thanks for sharing, great job Steve !
That was Great, beautiful old trains!!
Thank You
You always bring us such great footage of our history that makes the mind spin in all directions with question of the then. Beautiful, beautiful video and thanks for the share.
Thanks so much for the kind comment. Glad you enjoyed it
Love the quality of the pictures at the end.
+JohnJohn83UK Thank You
+Abandoned Steve (Historical - Urbex) I love pictures at the end, there word Awesome!!
Ditto. Moving.
Excellent photography!
+David Maslow Thank you
Great job Steve. Thanks so much for this and putting up with the sirens and weather that day to bring it to all of us.
+93Vet Thank you so much.
Steam Town National Historic Site in Scranton, PA I was there back in 2010 cool place! This stuff is not abandoned so to say it's slowly being restored a little bit at time.
What nice collection of trains / cars. Looks like several steam engines are in restorable condition. Again wish I was extremely wealthy and could save them.
Thanks !
Loved looking at these old trains, despite the rain! Great video!
Joluvslilhorses Thank You. Yea the rain was not the best but still got the footage
fantastic stuff.
I love this stuff Steve!
Great job, i enjoy abandoned and old places and things. Trains have always been a interest, so put the two together......Great video!
jim ogle it a dream come true haah
What camera did you use to film this video?
JP Videos I use a Nikon D610. I shoot both video and photography with it.
There were a lot of trains running around 50 years ago, and not all were scrapped, so some end up in 'museums' like this one. They always have a lot more equipment than there is money available for restoration - or even keep out of the weather. The Steamtown collection is typical - it has a premier collection of historic equipment under cover (in the roundhouse) and in good shape, another group outside but inside the yard that is looked after, and a lot full of old locos and equipment that are significant but nobody can afford to restore them or even give them a coat of paint.
(BTW, the Steamtown collection came from Vermont, where Nelson Blount started collecting. Hence the Vermont coaches.)
super ! merci pour la vidéo ...
Fredo platel Thank You!
I noticed Erie Lackawanna on the sides of some passenger cars that brought back memories of my parents and family using these steam trains and my second grade field trip in 1962 on an Erie Lackawanna Steam Train ride using those old passenger cars. At that time steam train rides were still around and serviced a few local routes AKA North and Central New Jersey. As I grew older we stopped seeing trains travel thru the town of Pequannock, New Jersey and later towards the 1970's all local shops and stores build close to the train route closed that once supplied them.
Awesome video. The really beat up wooden ones are so beautiful.
I agree. Too bad they are too far gone
beautiful ... thx for another great upload
+Alex Milne Thanks for watching Alex
Very sad state of things.... Your still photos are excellent!
david perry Thank You. Glad you enjoy the photos
Great job!
that old steam engine is neat, not unexpected though lots of things get forgotten with time.
good video,, that Rutland car looks like it came from VT,,there is a few around here from the Rutland RR now the central VT, good to see that they are saved from the scrap man at least,
Gee ... seeing stuff like this is always kind of ... fascinating, eerie, and sad at the same time, y'know?
+Seth Tyrssen As in "Erie" Lackawanna :)
Great footage and Photographs ...well worth seeing....Cheers....Steve in the UK.
***** Thanks Steve!
I wouldn't say "Abandoned" to any degree, it's of this more like..."Ignored/Forgotten"
Both CNR 47 & CNR 3377 and rest of the railroad rolling stock seen are owned by SteamTown NHS. So technically really it's owned by the U.S. Government/Department of the Interior.
Many railroad museums like SteamTown have a lot of rolling stock and much of the surplus collection get's very overlooked.
Currently, on SteamTown's restoration schedule they are working on completing Baldwin Locomotive Works 26. The next locomotive in line should be Boston & Maine 3713. After that Canadian Pacific 2317 or Canadian National 3254. CNR 3377 has mostly been a parts donor for 3254. CNR 47 hasn't ran since the museum was back in Vermont.
By comparison fixing freight/passenger cars is a lot more easy than restoring a steam locomotive. Also, they are working on the U.S. Federal Government Budget.
,like you said they are parts car
It is sad to see such magnificent old locomotives just rusting and rotting away.
it's disheartening to see such wonderful examples of 'steam age' in such disrepair
i also realize the volunteers have only so much time and money to preserve the best examples
my heart is ran on steam locomotives
I'd wager that most if not all those steam engines are still operational, those things were made to last literally forever, a little tinkering and lubing up stuff, add some water and a little fire in the box and take her for a spin,lol! Great video, was fun to see all that history.Thx!
+David Smith Thanks David
+David Smith I agree totally, its all metal on metal, so all it needs is to be greased. I'm sure with a little lube and some help with another engine to get the parts moving freely wouldn't take all that much $, just time. since they are old locomotives showing a little rust is just to say "hey!... I'll be around when your great great grandsons are born!"
Nope.
You have no idea how they work, do you?
Excelente video.
This is so awesome what great video you did, took me back in time, love that feeling to. The still's blew me away. Thank you for letting us see these amazing things. God bless you!
+cookingnotes Thank You. Glad you enjoy the video
The coaches (safety coaches actually) look quite impressive. Early railway coaches had a wooden superstructure on top of a steel chassis and in a bad smash the bogies of adjacent coaches would rise up and shatter the woodwork and any passengers that were inside! Modern coaches are like a metal tube which will not telescope but in Europe it took ages before such innovations were introduced. I have actually travelled hundreds of miles in coaches with wooden superstructures but fortunately there were no accidents. The storage yard looks great and it must have a good climate as there is not much corrosion.
Hey now! Scranton Pennsylvania!!!
great film so sad to see those engines and rolling stock rotting away
I like the shot of CP 2929, one of only two survivors, the other being 2928 is on display at the Canadian Railway Museum in Quebec
Peter Driscoll I live In Massachusetts!
Very professional photographer !
Thanks, good job
Awesome video. You really provide an amazing service.
+Jeffery Williams thank you
Abandoned Steve no thank you. You are preserving history and in many a cases looking at this and finding history where most people never think to look. Like that video alloy the old bank. Just awesome
So awesome.
Great work man. Love the photos too (2929) looks awesome. I also have a video of a train property I had free roam on.
If you ever get out to Sacramento, we have an outstanding railroad museum with many restored locomotives and coach cars.
It wood be so nice to salvage some of those facing seats and redo them as breakfast nooks. Save a bit anyway.
Where is this
Steamtown in scranton pa
nascarfan8833 oh ok
Great videos, thanks for showing
+Bostonclassics1 Your welcome. Thanks for watching
Cool thanks for the up close video of steam town
Your welcome. Worth a visit!
Have loved steam powered locomotives since I was on my first train ride from Greenport, NI, NY, to GCS in Manhattan Then really got into it when I had my Lionels. One a heavy 2-4-2. This, while I love old buildings, is one of my favorites of yours Steve. Thanks. BTW, when I visited the UK, I had to see the national Train Museum in York, but just missed the "Flying Scotsman" which was moved elsewhere for restoration. Worth the trip.
***** I hope to make a trip overseas!
start em up
I like going down to steamtown.
These would be great in a theme park so kids can go inside and explore that would be fun. I wonder if you can buy them.
I hope all of that is preserved
Nope those wooden cars were scrapped recently.
Great video, loved the trains!
RLoz76 Thank You
These pieces of railroad history are at scranton PA. They are on the dead track and awaiting restoration
Great video! 1:21 (and later): that seems to be a gorgeous 2-8-2 Mikado with the lead and trailing trucks removed. Still a lot of parts are there. 7:12 looks like a 2-8-0 Consolidation (in this case small boiler, lead truck with spoked wheels and heavy duty valve- and running gear). Love the boiler: still covered in shiny sheet metal (perhaps as part of a late restoring project?). These steamers - which still haven't been stripped off - as sadly is the case in some "steam graveyards" here in Europe - should be carefully restored immediately. Same with the coaches and snow removal equipment. The wooden passenger cars which are rotten beyond repair can always be used as 1:1 templates to build accurate replica (together with plans if available) from scratch (that's how it is done very often). Beautiful locos and rolling stock! Definitely belong into expert hands to be rebuilt to its former glory. It's being done painstakingly by rail fans in the UK and all over continental Europe as well as in the US and Canada.
That mike's CN 3377. Wound up as a parts donor for 3254, but there's talk of 3377 being restored.
When I was very young my grandparents lived in Gary, Indiana, with freight yard or switching yard (?) behind the house. I didn't know we were in an undesirable location: I thought it was great! Little boys and trains: now there's a combination! I recall riding, though not well, Monon trains from Bloomington, Indiana, to Gary and back; also riding the South Shore interurban trains between Gary and Chicago and the Burlington commuter trains to and from Naperville, Illinois, and Chicago. My grandfather "rode the rails" during the Depression looking for work and even years later when things were better he said that when he heard a train whistle he wanted to get aboard.
wow thanks so much for sharing that story. I wish i was old enough to relive that time!
I did a similar exploration at the old abandoned steam locomotive park at Snoqualmie Falls Washington state. Being an electrician I was very interested of what powered the electrical loads for the passenger cars. I knew the locomotive turbine generator was not capable of providing all the passenger cars with electricity. What I found out was that each car each had its own separate generator driven by belts wound around each cars axel. Also under the cars chassis were huge battery banks for electrical storage. Also on the cars load center were inverters to provide AC power. Another interesting point I noticed were the toilets. Sewage was not stored in any tank. Instead pee and poop just came out of the bottom of a toilet and dumped on to the tracks through a copper chute!
+heffo and juff LOL, yea. You can actually find signs on eBay or at antique places that were posted in the restrooms and they read something like "do not flush while in or going through station". I can imagine someone flushing a healthy one while and express train went through a station at like 50+MPH. whOOOOSH and everyone on the platform is suddenly having a bad day.
+heffo and juff Also, if you looked in the area of the diaphragms you would see where you could jumper power from one car to another. The problem came in as power use increased in each car. First ones used 32VDC as the standard. Then came 64VDC cars. Finally 110VDC cars. It was possible to feed power to a car that had 32VDC system form another car that had 32VDC circuits. And you could feed the 32VDC thru the 64VDC and 110VDC cars as long as you did not hook the trainline power to the 64VDC or 110VDC panels. Same applied to the 64VDC to 64VDC and 110VDC to 110VDC. 64VDC was the standard voltage for Diesel locos so they could also power a car or two as needed. Some generators under the cars had the ability to supply DC while sitting in a station by way of a 220VAC cable. Those belt drive and line shaft units had clutches to allow them to power up when sitting still. Early DC generators ran off flat belts. Later ones ran V-belts. Even later ones had V-belts, lineshafts, and clutches. Up to 6 V-belts were used on a car that had a 300 Amp, 32VDC Genamotor.
The Communication Car for the President of the US had Diesel AC generators inside that allowed them to power up the 32VDC Genamotor under the car while stationary or moving at low speed. As speed went up, the power dropped out and the clutch kicked in to pick up power from the rotation of the wheels and axle. The AC power was also trainlined to the next car which was the Crew Car for the Comm Car. And also all the way to the rear of the train for the Presidential Pullman, Ferdinand Magellan. The Comm Car and Crew Car could also supply 32VDC to the Magellan thru the regular vestibule connectors. The Magellan ran ice A/C so needed power when sitting for long periods along with 400lb blocks of ice.
This is absolutely heartbreaking to see all these engines and coach cars left outside to rot. It they had a classic Challenger locomotive out there as well. I figured that engine above all others would've been restored as that train pretty much conquered the western US.
Themeparkfanatic yea, the museum is trying to find money to save all of them
Why don't they talk to bluebell? Bluebell Railway could probably preserve them. It would probably cost a lot to ship them overseas, but bluebell might take a few of these engines.
The Robby King First off,You can't run American engines on british rails,They'd break under that weight. Second of all,It would cost Millions to ship these. Plus,Bluebell wouldn't accept them. This is reality,Unfortunatly.
I build rail cars car a living, and most of the time it's held together with welds, but we also use something called a Huck gun, basically it's a rivet type thing, but a one man job. Anyways, when I see these old cars and locos I see all those real rivets it makes me wonder how long it must have taken to build these things! I've worked with actual rivets before and it takes sometime to lay out just a few.
Very interesting. Last year, my son told me of an old early 1900s snow plow in a CP Rail yard that they had sitting off on an overgrown siding that was accessible but had some vandalism. By the time I got there, it was gone. I think they finally moved it for scrap. Too bad. I was desperate to get inside and film it for some variety even though I'm not a big train person. Great job on the video as always, Steve.
***** Thanks Tiki. Too bad it was moved before you can get there. Lots of these sitting to waste here in PA. It is sad!
Beautiful stills
Thank You. I like how the photos turned out
This is actually a historic site called Steamtown, and it's owned by the US government. They have a lot of items in their collection, so many items get overlooked or forgotten. Their Union Pacific Big Boy #4012 and their Nickel Plate Berkshire #759 are in much better shape than the engines you found. Steamtown has a locomotive of their own that has now been restored to operation, Baldwin #26, and they're working on restoring Boston and Maine #3713.
My old stomping grounds. I used to live in Pennsylvania and I frequently visited Steamtown.
I would love to see all of these old trains preserved but it would cost millions. It just doesn't seem right to leave them out in the weather to rust up.
i agree. Problem is storage. There just not enough storage space to keep all of them indoors
Here in my town we have a historic train sitting in a city park rusting to hell. It's too bad. I've visited train museums in Sacramento and in York UK and they are spectacular. And many of their old trains still run.
it sad to see them rusting away!
I think alot of the problem is marketing. If you notice the building they have it is a little expensively built. No need for a 250 grand skylight really. Anyone who wants to see history nowadays seems to have to pass into a piece of artwork first. Examples here in Canada are the Museum of Civilization and the National War Museum. All that extra does little if nothing to get people to go to see what they want to see. I will not go to see impresionist paintings if they are in a gold palace or if they are warehouse for instance, nor will it matter to see something i like in a gold palace if it means i will be looking at more ruinous wrecks than museum quality exhibits. Money ill spent to get people to go to see what they want to see in the first place, just now the new building has a bigger entrance fee to cover the "costs" of storing the exhibits they have. How many folks wouldn't go to a walmart because thier building is not an artpiece. Wouldn't it have been nice if the largest car museum were in the old packard factory even, instead of some irelevant artwork facade with steamline era designs mixed with 50's era design on the south face and a future looking north face ? There are losts of art peices here in Ottawa folks cannot see for the space concerns, yet the money is going to a new artwork facade. Doesn't make cents it wastes them and costs what people want to actualy see. People like Abandonded Steve deserve credit for showing history beforre it disolves. He realy picks up the slack of what museums are letting slip away to decay and destruction in the odd world of preservation.
Abandoned Steve Too bad there wasn't an old abandonded Walmart near by eh ? lol
Wow not your abandoned houses but wow some cool train man well done Hunni xx
Yea i like trains and I have to try and be different every once in a while
Well that's a great idea love it keep up your great work Hun x
Steve, this is good stuff. I'd watch a 30 second commercial. I like how slowly you move the camera. I'm so impatient with the camera when I'm places. I get excited just being there. Sometimes, I wish I didn't have to be bothered with the youtube channel and just enjoy the moment. These trains and box cars are amazing. Is this in the same location as the other train cars that were back in the woods?
***** Thanks! You shouldnt be seeing a 30sec commercial. that disabled. Anyway check out my older videos. I flung that camera around at like 100mph. It was bad. Probably is your eyes are taking the movement better than what the camera is capturing. That is why you need to take it slow. This is not in the same spot as the the graveyard
The answer to most peoples comments are very simple: These things rust away and rot because most of YOU never donated money or time to rebuild them. Simple as that.
I will donate when I'm older and grown up!! Reply and say, "I did" if you ever donated for steam or railway preservations!
wow.. what a day to go hunting..this was my first time on a abandoned train.. wow.. that was crazy.. specaill the train @3:40.. what kind of train was that? anyway awesome old trains.. i bet the old ghosts are still seated on those old seats and waiting go somewhere.. (too much imagination) great video.. thanks for getting soaked and getting the video to us..
asankaw1 That is a snow plow. Thanks so much for watching!
thanks.. oh i enjoy your videos always..
Great video as always thanks for sharing. The pictures you took were absolutely fantastic, what kind of camera/lens were you using?
myjet4life Thank You. I am using a Nikon D610 with a Nikon 14-24mm wide angle
Nice, thanks for the reply
Got to say Abandoned Steve you do some really good videos. Thumbs up!! man :)
Urban Ex Boys Thanks so much!
Oh my goodness I want to ride one so bad.
Hi Steve once again a stunning vid, with amazing clarity. The work of a pro. I must admit that I am biased to trains and trams. Also how is your German Shepard dog going?
Jo-Anne Flavel Thanks so much. Bella is doing great!
I can't help but think of these steamers in an apocalyptic sense. It's sad that these beautiful machines have to sit thar for the rest of their lives and decay and rust.
Hey who cares atleast the amount of pallution is decreased😉😉😉
AMIGO I LOVE TRAINS OLD STEAN AND COACHES I LIKE VERY VERY NICE VIDEO, GRACIAS AMIGO, THANKS,,,,??? NEW YEAR NEW VIDEOS, ??
WOW I Would Buy a Metal Coach to Convert it into a Modern House!
Some of those steam locomotives look Pretty restorable. Some of them are the last of thier kind
Question. I’ve been to steamtown before, but I never went where you were in this video. Are you allowed to just walk over and see them?
this is the second vid iv seen from you i just watched the ss united states these vids are awsome keep up the good work man
+Kyle McAvoy Thank You Kyle
This is in scranton PA/steam town
That Jubilee looks terrible (the 4-4-4 towards the end)...it's such a unique wheel configuration, and streamlined, they really need to try to do something about it.
idk where they are but i hope that those trains and coaches get new life since i am a huge steam train rail fan
i also noticed the condition of the steam locomotives and i must say
they are in pretty good condition and could almost be restored in couple of months
+rails to fails Steam town USA in Scranton. It is a museum and if your in the area, worth a visit
Great footage in the conditions.
Was that an electric driver coach + car set at 4:20 ?
Good question. Not sure.. I am sure someone will be able to answer this
wampus959 Thank you for giving the answer!
Abandoned Steve
Thanks guys. With seeing Philadelphia here and there on your rail videos I thought across to the famous GG1 electric. Am English, now in USA and earlier would have thought the area only to have steam/diesel.
Relics and your camera make such history intriguing :)